 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2014-11-14 18:52
Hi All,
In recent thread on Robert Scott ligatures, I mentioned Bernie Portnoy ligatures. What followed were some really interesting comments by a few others on Portnoy MPs as well. Since many of us are getting a little "long in the tooth" it is probably a good idea to capture our experiences with Bernie, his MPs and his teaching.
I'll start by saying I still have my original BP02 from the late 1960s. I love the piece and know it needs refacing but am afraid to have anyone touch it for fear the sound and responsiveness will change. I also have numerous later renditions but none seems quite as good.
So others, please add.
Best,
HRL
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Author: BobD
Date: 2014-11-14 21:19
As I recall, I had the privilege of measuring two of your Portnoys, one of which had been refaced by an expert.
Bob Draznik
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Author: BartHx
Date: 2014-11-14 21:21
I have limited experience with the mouthpieces, but the consistency does seem to be quite good. I was having some trouble finding exactly the right mouthpiece for my Centered Tone and Series 9, so my brother loaned me a BP02 that he used on his Centered Tone for many years before he went over to Buffet. I immediately fell in love with it, but it too needed refacing. I ordered a new one for myself and was very surprised at how little difference there was between two mouthpieces with over fifty years between their dates of manufacturer. I am definitely a happy camper with my BP02 (with the old one for backup) even if there aren't all that many people who still recognize what it is.
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Author: rtmyth
Date: 2014-11-14 21:52
Met him at TBMA conventions in San Antonio. He would spend days at the Buffet factory, trying out clarinets, barrels, and even bells, to get the most agreeable instrument. He did not approve of thick-cut reeds, saying they did not match properly the facing of mps. His article on timbre, tone-color, etc is most welcome. I knew he was a fine musician; it was wonderful to meet and talk with him.
richard smith
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2014-11-14 22:18
Ramon Wodkowski has an blog entry for September 23, 2012 on his website,
http://www.ramonwodkowski.wordpress.com about the several generations of Portnoy mouthpieces. The first models, directly produced by Robert Miller of Milwaukee in the late 1950s, bore the logo "B. Portnoy, New York" and, a little higher up, the words "rod rubber." But even these were made from two different blanks, the Lelandais, and the Riffault, so they may have had different characteristics. Later models, including the ones mass produced by Babbitt, have a less focused sound. They show the motto "Des Artistes."
I prefer the mouthpieces Miller produced according to his own design and bearing his own name as a logo. These work better with close facings; the Portnoys generally play better with medium open to open facings.
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2014-11-14 22:42
I've tried some of the old Portnoys that Ramon Wodkowski has refaced. If you want to get your old Portnoys worked on, you can't do better than sending them to Ramon.
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2014-11-14 23:28
BobD,
You are correct, sir.
I may bring some more MPs with me when I see you in December. That's reason enough to go down into your basement empire once again.
BTW, I am enjoying the cool posts that have already appeared. It sounds like Portnoy still has many loyal devotees.
HRL
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Author: donald
Date: 2014-11-15 02:46
I'm going to look for my old (ruined) Miller/Behn, and I KNOW i have a Portnoy somewhere....
I think MY Miller blank mouthpiece is un-resurectable, I'm fairly sure the "phantom refacer who will remain un-named" (because they also did me some good favours over the years) has set the facing/table so that it is, and this is difficult to describe... a symetrical facing, but not aligned with the baffle/tip rail (this means the tip is facing sideways in relation to the facing window and the baffle compresses more on one side that the other). I have myself done this to a mouthpiece before when refacing, and know how tricky it is, if not impossible, to fix up- the tip rail really is now "off" in a way that can't be fixed.
But my Portnoy, hmmm where is that?
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2014-11-15 19:19
I worked with Portnoy when he first came out with his mouthpieces. I played in the National Orchestral Society in NY and he was our section coach. I was studying with Russianoff at the time at Manhattan and he was teaching at Juillard. We would meet in his studio evey few weeks with the clarinet section. One day he had his first shipment of his mouthpieces and asked if any of us were interested in trying them. I agreed and he went through a bunch and picked out a few for me to try that he said were the best ones. I took them home, played them for Russianoff and choose one to buy and played it for about a year or so. As a student I was constantly looking for the "perfect" mouthpiece. I finally found it twenty years ago after playing professionally for over 30 years at the time. :-)
He was a very nice man by the way. Never tried to get me to change teachers and was always encouraging and fair.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2014-11-16 17:06
ESP,
That is an amazing story and the "nice man" and "never tried to get me to change..." speaks volumes about Portnoy.
For those that have not already seen it, a must read is Shannon Thompson's doctoral dissertation "A History and Analysis of the Philadelphia School of Clarinet Playing." She has many comments from Portnoy from personal interviews with him at his home in CA.
Here is "Port's" obituary. What a career.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sfgate/obituary.aspx?n=bernard-portnoy&pid=20256954
HRL
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2014-11-17 05:01
By the way, I should have mentioned. When he came to NY at some point he played the musical show My Fair Lady for about seven years. Of course he took time off to do other things as well and was able to get subs whenever he wanted to after a while. He said it was just a pay check after a while.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: Michael E. Shultz
Date: 2014-11-20 03:41
In my high school, in the 1970s, the clarinet players were either buying a Charles Bay MO-M or a Portnoy BP02 mouthpiece.
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
Groucho Marx
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Author: LarryBocaner ★2017
Date: 2014-11-20 19:12
I studied with Mr. Portnoy my final year at Juilliard. He told a funny story about playing for his father's fraternal lodge, along with violinist Paul Nero ("Hot Canary") when they were both young members of the Pittsburgh Symphony. They were introduced as "a couple of klezmorim", an insult in those days before the rediscovery of klezmer music as a true art form.
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2023-09-28 19:31
Hi All,
Over the recent week, I have been playing my original BP02 from the late 1960s. It, and a backup BP02, play as beautifully as I remembered. In fact, I plan to use them for the next month or so to see if they become my #1 mouthpieces.
I tried both VD 3 1/2 and Legere' #3 reeds and the response and rich/complex overtones are amazing. A very fine clarinetist friend of mine who was listening said the Portnoys have a nice ping in addition to a very fine sound.
HRL
PS Back in the day, I had several of my clarinet students switch to the BP02 along with a $5 Luyben ligature. I still have my original ligature somewhere among my treasures.
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Author: alaes
Date: 2023-09-29 02:10
I read these posts with great interest. I have read others regarding the Portnoy mouthpieces but this is the most recent.
With regard to BartHx's remarks, my experience was quite different. I was gifted a 1965 R 13 at the age of 12 (my teacher, MSG Louis Bartolone, Principal Clarinetist of the USMA band) felt I was that good! In any event, he quickly discarded the Buffet mpc (yes, in those days they included one), for his mpc of choice - a BPO2. I played it and probably at that age, didn't appreciate it as much as I should have. In any event, several years later, I bought a second one as a backup and found it greatly lacking compared to the first one.
Jump ahead 56 or so years, I decided to purchase a third BPO2 as they were being made by Babit and was shocked by the different facing on this mpc. The tip rails were much wider as were the side rails. As well, the table was much wider. As far as the performance of this mpc, it too, left a lot to be desired. I just bought a CVSR and the mpc for that horn while good, is no where near the original mpc I acquired in 1965 and remains my principal mpc.
Based on my email with the new owner of Babbit in 2022, they discontinued making the Portnoy mpc.
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Author: Ken Lagace
Date: 2023-09-30 01:27
I studied with Mr. Portnoy for a few years. I always arrived with a hand full of cash and orders for mouthpieces.
He was the nicest and kindest man I ever met.
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Author: jim sclater
Date: 2023-09-30 06:36
I had a good friend in high school that married a clarinetist named Michael Novak. Michael had studied in NYC and came to Mobile AL with his new wife in the late '60s to direct a HS band and play in the orchestra there. He played a Portnoy mouthpiece with his set of Buffet clarinets and had the most beautiful sound I had ever heard at that time. In a very sad turn of events Michael died while conducting his band during their spring concert. Tragic case of a very fine player who passed much too young. Years later, I tried to locate a really fine example of the BP 02 but could never find one that sounded anything like the mouthpiece Michael had.
jsclater@comcast.net
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2023-10-07 19:01
As a student in NY I played in what was then the National Orchestral Association orchestra and each section had a professional coach. We were privledged to have Portnoy who at the time was teaching at Juilliard and in his 7th year of playing My Fair Lady on Broadway. When asked how he could do that for so long he said he's able to take off as much time as he wants to do recordings, tours, vacations etc and the pay check is good.
We used to meet as a clarinet section in his studio about every two weeks to have our "couching" sessions. That year he came out with his mouthpieces and asked if any of us would like to try them. I told him I was interested and when a new shipment came in he went through a bunch in our class and picked one out and said, try this, it's the best. Then he told me if my teacher, Leon Russianoff, does not like it to just return it. I played on the BP2 for about a year. I eventually sold it to a student in later years.
Portnoy was one of the nicest teacher players I ever had the pleasure of working with though not in "private" lessons.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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